While the rest of the ship was gathered along the rails looking out at the sunset, I was curled up on the bed awaiting the inevitable. The moment where butterflies turned to somersaults and my head began to feel like a steel drum player.

However, if you’re like me and you have every intention of tasting the food on distant shores and snapping photos that could never do your vacation justice, it’s time to find a solution!

In an effort to help us all enjoy our next cruise a little more, I turned myself in a to a science experiment. With so many different cruise motion sickness remedies popping up on Pinterest, I wondered do any of them really work and why?I used these on my recent cruise, which was one of the roughest many seasoned passengers had experienced, and felt better than I have on any other!

Avoid Heavy Meals
I know, I know, it’s vacation, but if feeling good is more important than a nice meal, you’ll stick to this guideline. Digestion effects all kinds of things, so avoid foods that can cause stomach issues in general: high fatty, new to you foods, large meals, greasy foods.

Green Apples
Speaking of digestion, another key is to find ways to help support your stomach. Green apples not only have fiber, but pectin and sugar which neutralize stomach acid!

Ginger
Not only can you sip on ginger ale, but bring along some ginger chews or scoop up any of the delicious food you might find seasoned with ginger. While this won’t alleviate all symptoms, it has been shown to aid digestion which will in turn help to settle a nauseous stomach.

Bonine
Sold over the counter at most drug stores, this has been one of the most effective tools for me. You can get a prescription scopolamine patch from your doctor, but I personally never felt that work as well and when it comes to medicine even a little ibuprofen can put me to sleep.

Thus I say do a little testing and come prepared with both options. Everyone is a little different and one medicine may do wonders for you! I liked that the Bonine helped me sleep soundly through the night when the ship is often moving the most and yet the chewable tablets allowed me to take just half a pill at various times during the day so I wasn’t always groggy.

Acupressure Bracelets
The one’s found in the grocery store are ugly, let’s just be honest. Which is why I was thrilled to find these super cute beads that just look like bracelets. The pressure point located on your wrist (roughly three fingers down from the bend) is said to help balance the flow of energy through the body.

Fear Control
Turns out some people believe that our sickness is related to a lack of control. Did you know when people first began flying those little barf bags were used constantly! Now that people feel more comfortable with the idea of it they are used less and less.

In fact, just the fear of getting sick can send us down the wrong path. This is where yoga can come in to play! Learning to control your breathing and mind have been shown to help reduce motion sickness in many people.

None of these are a panacea, but combined they seem to make a significant dent in any of the motion sickness feelings you might have. Even if some of it is mental, I will take any relief that comes my way!

Well hello again friends! If you’re here then you likely read all about our jet boating tour in Tortola and were just DYING to know more about our time exploring the Caribbean in true Amanda style…active.

Pulling in to St Thomas, I’d say it was by far one of the prettiest Caribbean ports I’ve ever seen. Maybe it’s the panoramic views of mountains and little houses dotting the hillside or maybe it’s the lack of a huge shipping port!Step one after disembarking is always the most harrowing… you board an oversized looking golf cart and it drives you haphazardly through the hills to your location. No seat belts and umm yeah driving on the wrong side of the road, those crazy people.

BUT then you arrive and all is forgotten.Jumping in to our two person kayak, I said a little prayer that my controlling tendencies wouldn’t be an issue. Hey it’s why I like kayaking over canoeing, my boat my pace!

Our tour guide was quite possibly one of the best I’ve ever had. Not just because he referred to us repeatedly as “beautiful people” or because he gave us chocolate, but his genuine joy of being on the water and sharing his knowledge seemed to just seep out of every pore!After kayaking along the mangroves, which are over 500 years old, our little merry band of paddlers found a beach to pull up our kayaks. My arms loved the workout and my brain was thrilled to find the waters were smooooooth as glass!

I stopped snorkeling after a few seriously rough water experiences that left me motion sick for days. But again this year has been all about pushing boundaries so back out I went and this time I was armed with the GoPro!Since we paddled to our location we didn’t see some of the insanely colored fish I remember from Key Largo, Key West and Costa Rica.

A little secret though…I’d take less fish and calm waters over more interesting any day!! We did see a couple of sting rays, some awesome coral and a few crazy colored fishes. Do I know their names, nope, don’t care.

After we paddled and then snorkeled, it was time to get our land legs back for a little exploration of the tiny island where we had parked our yellow boats. Off in the distance we were really lucky to see St Croix thanks to the clear skies, he said that happens once in a blue moon (did I mention we got to see a super moon on the ship?!).Sighhhhh.

Seriously doesn’t that photo just make your whole body relax? Blue waters, puffy clouds, islands in the distance, get me a hammock and I’d have stayed for hours. Alas we had more paddling to do and some crabs to race, but that’s another story for another day.It was indeed a working cruise for me and I just couldn’t quite get my brain around a bikini + colleagues, so a one piece it was! I think this also made it easier to bounce around activities without wondering if I’d lost a top or bottom!

Ok not me, not really. I love a lot of things about the cruise and if we could figure out the whole rocking thing I’d be ecstatic with the availability of entertainment, not unpacking repeatedly and food options galore.Enough about me what you want to know about is the ship, right?!

Sorry in advance for limited photos on the shows, you aren’t allowed to take photos (I only snapped during curtain call)!

Burn the Floor was one of my favorite shows ever. I think this should have been in the main theater to ensure that everyone got a chance to see it. For an hour straight these dancers flew across the stage with high energy, twists, spins, moves I can’t even begin to name and costume changes that just kept coming. Another fantastic feature for me was the Illusionarium.

It’s a dinner show with a pre-set menu where you watch a magic show with 5 different performers who range from the big disappearing acts to the mentalists to the floating objects. LOVED it all…except the menu. The food was fine, but we know I’m a veggie and no dairy girl!

OUTDOOR FUNThe ropes course and slides are the big features of the Getaway. 4 slides offer a little something for everyone, but 2 are designed for the adrenaline seekers…you step in to a small tube, they shut the door and then…the floor drops out! WHOOP!

Meanwhile the ropes course was open at sea, in port and even at night! This made for some interesting people watching as you had 10 year old girls buzzing along the balance beams followed by 60lb overweight middle aged men moving as though they were light and free as a 10 year old girl…and then you had me.

WHAT?! You know I’m a weenie. I loved the experience, but nope couldn’t let go of the rope even for a photo! Here is my hubs gliding along and I’ll have an awesome adventure video of the week to show you more in a few days!

The only downside to the ropes course/slides taking up some a massive part of the deck is that the pools felt really small. Around the main adult area there were 4 hot tubs and a small pool. They often felt so over run that I just didn’t really want to hop in…touching other people’s sweaty swimsuit clad bodies is not on my vacation to do list. OTHER FEATURES
And there there is the Ice Bar! Yup exactly what it sounds like… a room where everything is made of ice and you get to wear a little parka to enjoy that special I can’t feel my fingers feeling with those that you love.

Since we don’t drink, this was a surprise experience I did with the other conference staff members. Loved seeing the ice sculptures and watching people’s glasses literally freeze on their face.WiFi was poor, but that’s in relation to having been on the Quantum which has the best Internet at Sea! Had I not being trying to work all week, this wouldn’t really have been an issue for me.

Service was on par with every other trip we’ve taken. The porter for our room was so sweet and made us a different towel animal every single day! While the kitchen staff was always full of smiles though they had to be cooking 24/7 to keep the buffet lines open and mange the additional seated restaurants!Food is rarely an issue on board and this was no exception.

David fell in love with stir fry again, so we spent on evening at the special Noodle House restaurant for him to really get his noodle on, this was one of the Freestyle dining restaurants that is included in your cruise. Unlike our first cruise where there was only pre-planned seating and you sat with the same people in the same restaurant each night, on NCL you can select from a few different restaurants and go whenever you choose!

Upsides is more freedom with what you want to eat and flexibility to eat when you are actually hungry. Downside is that with the same nightly seating you met some wonderful people and never waited in line.